Following our nice overnight camp near rural Northhampton, we headed into the town of Geraldton Thursday morning (2/10/14). Geraldton has surf beaches, so the boys and I were keen to do some body boarding. Unfortunately the surf was a bit of a mess, with multiple gutters and the like, so we kept ourselves on dry ground.

Instead we occupied ourselves with exciting stuff like looking around, stocking up on groceries, and going to the laundromat… We did pick up one very useful tip from one of the info centre ladies – you can buy tap keys that can be used to operate all those taps you see around the place without handles on them (for vandal proofing). Comes in a + shape with 4 different adapters for the different types out there, and this makes it easier to find a spot where we can fill up with drinking water. Obvious really, and don’t know why I didn’t think of it prior, but very useful.

We didn’t give the boys a totally boring day though, because Geraldton also boasts sand boarding as a local activity. So we went and found one of the spots where they do this and they had a good time on their body boards acting as sand boards. Good fun for them, and the best bit from my view? They are completely stuffed from climbing the hills so many times!

the flying position

the bullet stance

the Nicole stance!!

loosing control

a stack…

Friday morning (having camped just south of Geraldton) we headed further south down the coast, checking out the various coastal towns on the way. These included Dongara, Port Denison, Leeman, & Green Head. Early arvo we arrived at Lesueur National park, and put the $12 entry fee in the envelope as required. Now Lesueur NP is not an adrenelin junkies type of national park, rather it is about conserving and observing the specific flora found in the area. It’s heathland type vegetation (low lying shrubs). So it’s the type of NP you see typically older people pottering around, carefully stopping and examining some terribly exciting looking plants, that are here there and everywhere! I realise I’m treading a fine line right now – hopefully I won’t be banned from future family gatherings….

There is an 18km one way road that takes you through the park, along with a couple of parking areas to stop, with walking trails. We did the main 2.6km and 4km walking trails as one walk, the 4km trail taking you up to the top of Mount Lesueur where you get a nice view from the large plateau.

I’m no expert on plants of this sort (or any other…), so just took photos of some random flowers, including ones Nicole thought pretty!

entry area

View south from Mount Lesueur

Looking across the top of Mt Lesueur

The other thing to note is that Lesueur NP is the home of the fly it seems. There were heaps of them everywhere. We watched some younger European ladies who were unable to cope – they were out of the car preparing to walk, but squealing in disgust and horror got back in the car and drove off, despite having those silly head net things on!

keep that mouth shut!!

One of the little look-outs we’d stopped at along the way earlier in the day referred to a nearby Sandy Cape Recreation Reserve, so having completed our time in the NP we said good riddance to the flies and headed there for the night.